


Red Pizzas

by Keenir



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Chinese New Year, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-15
Updated: 2010-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-07 06:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cho gets a post-case gift - with the pizzas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Pizzas

**Author's Note:**

> Written for &amp; first posted to the lj community _Red_Packets_.
> 
>  
> 
> Spoilers: 2.05 (for pizza topping)  
> Warning: spicy pizza and lettuce pizza.  
> Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, nor the holiday. And I'm pretty sure there really are pizza places like this.  
> **Big Disclaimer:** all errors and slip-ups in meaning, are entirely my own.

Kimball Cho arrived back at work first after making an arrest alongside Lisbon and their fellow CBI agents.

And, because everyone else had taken the other car, he'd picked up the traditional closed case pizza on his way back. Only…

Three pizza boxes, stacked one on top of the other, sat on the team's shared desk.

The entire office frequented that pizzeria, because of or despite how the chefs tried having a different pizza for each holiday. And while their spice-heavy Chinese New Year pizzas were better than those disasterous Saint Patrick's Day pizzas…  
_  
"O-kay, we've got extra cheese, corned beef, and - Is this…lettuce?" lifting one piece with a pen._

"Yes. Soaked in olive oil and cheese."

"Cheese oil."

"'Cheese oil' isn't a word."

"Neither is oil-soaked lettuce, boss."  
  
And Kimball's throat still remembered how many spices had been mixed into the sausages this time last year – for no discernible reason other than because it made the ground beef redder.

Best to be sure, just in case…for everyone's safety. Otherwise there'd be another incident of empty water coolers in the office. And nobody wanted that.

He looked around, just to be sure he was alone. Yup, nobody else in sight.

Setting the pizza boxes one alongside another, Cho saw a red envelope taped to the middle pizza box. Neatly printed – typewriter ink and typewriter font, he noted – on the envelope was the name Kimball Cho.

Inside the red envelope was –

Another one. A second hong bao. Also with his name printed on it. "Good luck upon good luck," Cho supposed. Not exactly orthodox, but you could feel the good intent behind it.

Opening the second envelope, he pulled out a five dollar bill.

So…who was behind this? Who had purchased the pizzas and had the hong bao taped to the box?

The most likely suspects were those close to the recipient. That meant his friends – family would have waited three more days.

Rigsby? Nah. The wordplay was right up his alley, and it'd been a while since he'd bought the post-case pizza, but still: very unlikely. For one thing, if he'd done it, he'd be stepping out to say Happy New Year by now.

Van Pelt? It was possible – the extent of her knowledge had even surprised Jane once or twice. But she was more the sort of person who liked to present something in person, to hand it over to you, to watch your face.

Jane? Hiding it between the boxes, well that was right up his alley. But no, it was too simple, too direct to be from him. Something like a hong bao, it was a gift…not one of many steps toward whatever you're working on.

Lisbon? The superior officer of everyone on the team, true, but also the friend of every one of the four of them.

Kimball looked over at her desk, her chair presently empty, and nodded. Yeah, it was from her.

Only one of the three pizzas had the spicy sausage, so Cho set that over on the side of the table that iron-stomached Rigsby always went for first. They were friends, after all; the man loved hot and dangerous things – he was still chasing Van Pelt, after all.

Kimball Cho went to his desk and did some paperwork to pass the time until the team returned, then and only then would they all have the pizza together.


End file.
